She had just finished a stint with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and was intending to spend more time at home in Lancashire with her husband and young son, who was then just five.

WHEN Lesley Tomlinson took the reins at the then G-Mex in 2005, it was supposed to be only a short-term placement.

She had just finished a stint with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and was intending to spend more time at home in Lancashire with her husband and young son, who was then just five.

But Manchester city council
, which had acquired total control of the lacklustre jewel from the other nine regional local authorities, was looking for someone to sort out the finances and give it some gloss.

Lesley says: "I had sort of retired when I was approached to do it and so I said I would take charge in the interim.

"But once I got involved, I was hooked. I knew the potential was huge and it was also a great opportunity to work with some really talented and passionate people. It was originally a short-term post, but here I still am!"

Her credentials were impeccable. She trained first as a scientist, with a PhD in immunogenetics, and then switched to accountancy and qualified with KPMG
in Manchester.

In 1998, she was given the poisoned chalice of helping to bring the almost bankrupt Hallé back from the brink. The orchestra had debts of £1.5m, but tough staff pruning, increased box office receipts and cost-cutting - including a wage reduction for conductor Kent Nagano - helped stem the losses, and a public appeal and grant funding got it on track.

It was, she says, `all about good housekeeping' and she adopted the same approach at G-Mex.

She said: "It was fairly easy to see where more could be done from a housekeeping point of view. But really what it needed was root and branch change.

"You may start with the sums but then you need to find out what works, what makes a business tick. Major redevelopment was not in the original plan, but once we were clear about the markets we would need to tap into to create that wider economic impact, then what we had to do to achieve that also became clear."

What followed was a rebranding to bring the iconic old station and the new conference centre together as Manchester Central
, and the start of a £28m redevelopment that will create much more flexible conference space.

Lesley says: "We could do the big stuff for 3,000-4,000, and events for 600-700, but bridging that middle ground will double the average event size."

The most lucrative business comes from international conferences attended by high spenders who, often with their partners, spend a couple of nights in the city.

Lesley's baptism of fire came with the Labour Party Conference in 2006, won before she arrived and which she acknowledges as a turning point for Manchester being seen, both home and abroad, as a major conference venue.

"It made a massive difference to our profile. It put us centre stage and people started to pay attention that a city, not a resort, could host a conference."

The politics have been kind. Labour 2006 was Tony Blair's last conference, 2008 was Gordon Brown's first and, when the Conservatives arrive this October, they could bring with them the next PM.

Both parties have signed up for another year, which will bring more revenue to hotels and restaurants, but, as Lesley points out, the conferences are only two weeks out of the year and her task is to widen the income stream and extend the season.

Revenues for the year in which she arrived were £4.4m. They rose to £5.6m for the 12 months to the end of March 2008 but slipped to £5m last year. The forecast for the current year is £5.4m, again reflecting the harsh economic realities.

She says: "We have lost some ground due to the current economic climate within certain sectors, and we work with clients to reduce their scale. We'd rather have a smaller event than no event at all.

"But because we have taken the decision to move away from exhibitions and corporate, to conferences and large public sector events, it has given us a bit of a buffer. A key task is to continually extend the season and we constantly look at ways of broadening the product."

While venue income may have slipped back, the economic impact on the city and wider region has increased from £40m in 2005 to £59m this year and the redevelopment is expected to drive it closer to £70m a year when completed.

The timing of the redevelopment, designed by Manchester-based Stephenson Bell
, and funded partly by the city council and grants, is fortuitous. It widens Manchester Central's facilities, making it more able to adapt to changing markets, and Lesley hates to have to turn down any event.

Its position in driving the future economic growth of Manchester and the region was evident recently, when city leaders were prepared to spend £25m to buy the nearby Great Northern Warehouse to extend the conference offering. It may not have come off this time, but the long term intent is clear.

Lesley has a core staff of 60 and her role is supposedly part-time, but she is constantly in demand. Her phone vibrates angrily every five minutes during the interview and when we over-run there is a small crowd of people outside her office door and a PA who looks grateful when I say I can find my own way out.

Does she ever regret taking the job? "Not for a second," she responds. "We have made great strides, raising the profile and the offering, and there is a team of people who understand the city and sell it well, and we have strong clear leadership from the city council.

"But we are only just beginning to see the scale of what can be achieved here."

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